{"id":71353,"date":"2025-08-16T14:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T14:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/71353\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T14:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T14:16:07","slug":"rugby-championship-marks-next-phase-of-wallabies-redemption-arc-australia-rugby-union-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/71353\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby Championship marks next phase of Wallabies\u2019 redemption arc | Australia rugby union team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wallabies will look to the past against the world champion Springboks by rolling out two 35-year-olds in the halves to open their campaign in the Rugby Championship<\/a>, the southern hemisphere\u2019s most prestigious trophy that now also appears on its last legs.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s clash at Ellis Park, beamed into Australia\u2019s east coast early on Sunday morning, marks the next phase of the Wallabies\u2019 redemption arc which has risen from the pool stage exit of the 2023 World Cup, through this year\u2019s valiant British & Irish Lions series defeat and towards a tilt at the Webb Ellis Cup on home soil in 2027.<\/p>\n

After they pushed the Lions and prevented a clean sweep in a memorable series that concluded two weeks ago, the Wallabies appear on the up. But South Africa \u2013 where the tourists have not won since 2011 \u2013 offers a sudden test against the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

That has necessitated a lineup with very much a near-term focus. Injuries in the halves have forced coach Joe Schmidt to first ask No 9 Nic White to delay his international retirement after the Lions series, then parachute fly-half James O\u2019Connor into a Wallabies jersey for the first time since 2022<\/a>. The starting side is otherwise unchanged from the victory over the Lions in Sydney.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur initial thought was going with Ben Donaldson, who\u2019d spent more time with us and played the last 50 minutes of that third Test against the British and Irish Lions,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cBut we felt that James was best served, and the team was best served, by James getting enough reps during the week and having the time in the saddle.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear exactly what Schmidt has against Donaldson, the playmaker who has tumbled down the pecking order behind first Noah Lolesio, then Tom Lynagh, and now a player who played just 377 minutes of Super Rugby this year and is off to Leicester. Ultimately, Donaldson pulled up in training late in the week with an injury, leaving the presence of O\u2019Connor, as Schmidt described, \u201cfortuitous\u201d.<\/p>\n

The throwback halves pairing is appropriate for the start of a competition \u2013 known as the Tri Nations until Argentina joined in 2012 \u2013 that might soon have to be put out to pasture. Although a new international trophy will likely bring Ireland and France to Australia as part of a standard seven-home Test programme next year that might also include the Wallabies\u2019 traditional rivals, the Rugby Championship will not be held.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies lost 30-12 the last time the two nations met, in Perth last year. Photograph: Trevor Collens\/AP<\/p>\n

New Zealand and the Springboks are preferring to go it alone and arrange an extended All Blacks tour in South Africa. Beyond that, the 2027 World Cup will compress the usual international window, and a Springboks tour of New Zealand in 2030 will again take precedence over the competition Australia last won in 2015.<\/p>\n

But the Wallabies won\u2019t have time to check their calendars at Ellis Park on Saturday as they face the world champions. \u201cI\u2019m expecting that they\u2019ll be really strong in the set piece,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cTheir kick-chase game will be very strong. On any turnover or any bit of space they get, they\u2019ve got lethal finishers.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Africa have batted away Italy and Georgia in warm-up matches, scoring more than 40 points each game. They have lost just twice since lifting the 2023 World Cup \u2013 one-point losses to Ireland and Argentina \u2013 winning 14 Tests in that period to confirm their place at the summit of rugby union. Two of those came in Perth and Brisbane last year, when the world champions humbled the hosts by a combined score of 63-19.<\/p>\n

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But after slippery conditions during the Lions series, the Wallabies are looking forward to the afternoon jaunt in downtown Johannesburg. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen for a number of weeks a really dry, fast deck,\u201d fullback Tom Wright said. \u201cSo it\u2019s something to look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an odd thing to say given Australia haven\u2019t won at Ellis Park, the stadium in central Johannesburg that was the site of the 1995 World Cup final, since 1963. However times have clearly changed, and crime concerns and highly-priced tickets have some locals fearing the famous venue won\u2019t be filled for a contest that was once appointment viewing but is now \u2013 like the Rugby Championship more broadly \u2013 just another international fixture.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear about those dates, and it can be the elephant in the room, right?\u201d Wright said of the Wallabies\u2019 barren run at Ellis Park. \u201cSo it\u2019s been spoken about in terms of how cool it would be to be able to break that drought. But, like, is it any more special than any other game we\u2019re preparing for? Not particularly, no.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wallabies will look to the past against the world champion Springboks by rolling out two 35-year-olds in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-71353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}